Bristol City have missed out on a £100,000 payday due to their game with Cardiff City being moved because of police concerns about staffing.

The Robins’ hotly anticipated cross-Severn derby with Cardiff City was moved from 7.45pm on Friday, November 3, to midday on Saturday, November 4, following concerns from Avon and Somerset Police at being unable to provide enough manpower to cover the match.

A general veiw of Ashton Gate with the Clifton Suspension Bridge in the background prior to the Carabao Cup Third Round match between Bristol City and Stoke City

The game was also selected to be shown live on Sky Sports but the change of date means it has been dropped by the television company.

Championship clubs are awarded £100,000 for every home game broadcast on Sky, while the away team gets a £10,000 bonus.

Read More

The match had already been moved from 5.30pm on November 4 prior to this decision.

Josh Brownhill of Bristol City

When the change in date was first announced a statement on the Bristol City website from Ashton Gate Stadium's managing director Mark Kelly said: “We are disappointed that Avon & Somerset Police felt they would not be able to safely resource the Cardiff City fixture if it was played on the Friday night and made the decision to veto the date at this late stage.

“Despite all of the measures we had agreed to put in place – including Bristol City agreeing to meet the costs of police deployed at the stadium – the police still felt they would be unable to resource an appropriate level of public order-trained officers to its other commitments."

Read More

“Several of the points made at the recent extraordinary SAG [Safety Advisory Group] meeting were hugely out of context and while we, both Ashton Gate Stadium and Bristol City, respect the input of the police on match days, we feel this decision is wholly unnecessary."